Mandel, Mike. 43 Photographer Baseball Cards by Mike Mandel.

43 black and white baseball cards featuring well known photographers (and other photo personalities) in baseball uniforms, photographed and published by Mike Mandel, 1975. Cards come with a bag of original bubble gum from opened packages of Mandel cards. This was a conceptual photography project humorously satirizing baseball card collectors. Mandel traveled around the country with uniforms and equipment and produced a series of 134 portraits of photographers in baseball uniforms on baseball cards plus a card listing the other cards. The cards came with gum in packs like other baseball cards. The cards, which are without defects except as noted and include some duplicates, include Number 2. Joel Meyerowitz (damaged on edge). 5. Ron Walker (small stain on verso). 12. Bart Parker (stain on edge). 15. Arthur Siegel. 19. Gary Metz (short tear in margin). 29. Phil Perkis (2 copies). 37. Joyce Neimanas. 38. Judy Dater. 41. Jack Welpott (slight stain on edge). 45. Dave Freund. 49. Ed Sievers. 50. Minor White (2, one near fine, other with tiny hole in edge). 60. Tom Barrow. 62. Bea Nettles. 65. Cal Kowal (small spot on verso). 73. Jim Alinder. 75. M.J. Walker. 77. Al Woolpert (two copies, one with small rust stain on verso, the other with two small indentations on top edge of verso). 84. Paul Vanderbilt (yellowed, 2 dings). 85. Anne Noggle. 89. Andy Anderson (2 copies). 96. Art Sinsabaugh (slight damage to corner). 98. Doug Stewart. 99. Chuck Swedlund (stain from bubble gum lower left quadrant of verso). 100. Bill Edwards (two copies). 104. Wynn Bullock. 108. Lee Rice. 119. Doug Prince (two copies). 120. Eileen Cowin (stained on edge). 122. Reg Heron (creased horizontally). 127. Michael Bishop (damaged). 128. Bob Fichter (two, one damaged, the other signed by previous owner on verso). 132. Arnold Gassan (damaged). [Unnumbered] Card listing cards, some names checked off (3 copies). Offered as lot.  Sample photos shown.

Mike Mandel (b. 1950) is an American conceptual photographer and visual artist known for his pioneering use of found imagery, public installations, and satire to challenge traditional photography and pop culture. Raised in Los Angeles,Mandel studied at California State University, Northridge, and earned his MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1974. Throughout the 1970s, he produced groundbreaking, humorous conceptual projects, including Baseball-Photographer Trading Cards (1975)—a set of 135 custom trading cards featuring prominent photographers and curators as baseball players—and Evidence (1977), a seminal collaborative photo book with Larry Sultan that assembled context-free technical and archival photographs to question visual narrative and institutional truth. Beyond his publication work,Mandel spent decades creating large-scale mosaic tile murals for public spaces and taught photography at various institutions. His work is held in major museum collections worldwide, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Tate, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.